This paper describes zydeco music and dancing, popularized by Creole French speaking people of African decent living on the prairies of south-central and southwest Louisiana.
Abstract This paper explains that zydeco music, a form of dance music, is characterized by a syncopation or a shift of accent in a passage or composition that occurs when a normally weak beat is stressed. The author points out that the accordion and keyrub board, (also know as the washboard, scrub board or a froittoir) are essential parts of the zydeco sound, but there are no fiddles as in Cajun music. The paper relates that traditional zydeco dancing was done subtly, smoothly and upright by couples in a closed position; however, zydeco dancing appears to be evolving from a couples dance to individual free-style. The author relates that Clifton Chenier, who brought the zydeco genre to international attention, reigned as the "King of Zydeco" with a career lasting 30 years, and earned a Grammy award in 1984.
From the Paper "The changes that have taken place in zydeco music can be tracked by the type of accordion that is used. There were four different models of accordions that have been widely used in the zydeco musical genre, each type varying in the number of rows, and consequently the number of keys. The accordions were sturdy and could be easily heard in big crowds of people. Today, there are diatomic models as well as chromatic models. The diatomic models only play the full-step intervals found in major scales, while the chromatic "piano" accordions encompass half-step intervals..."
Abstract This paper examines how the articles "The Heterosexualization of the Ontario Women Teacher in the Postwar Period" by S. Cavanagh (2006) and "Rethinking Class in Lesbian Bar Culture: Living 'The Gay Life'" by S. Chenier (2006) both discuss the ways in which heterosexism and traditional gender norms had an impact on single women, both gay and straight, during the post-war twentieth century. It looks at how throughout Canadian history, many unmarried teachers in the post-war period and lesbians in the mid-twentieth century in Toronto struggled with discrimination and the challenge of securing jobs and how living outside of traditional gender norms resulted in discrimination and had negative economic impacts on both groups of women. It also discusses how in their articles, Cavanagh and Chenier explore these issues through personal interviews, tabloids, court actions and jail records.
From the Paper "Single women were preferred as teachers over married women during the early 1900's. The single woman was seen as non- sexual and morally fit. The 'celibate' woman teacher was seen as, "inducing a similar state of being upon her students" (Cavanagh 2006, 285). Cavanagh explains how married women, who were operating within traditional gender norms, were now seen as natural, with predisposition to love and care for children. The married women were thought to project a heterosexual behavior to her students, unlike the single 'celibate' women. Once the marriage bar was lifted in 1946 intolerance for homosexuality became more present, as Cavanagh states, "the single woman teacher came to be defined....sexually inverted, deviant, and queer" (2006, 284). Celibate single women teachers were no longer allowed to continue teaching. "
